


This Could Be the Start of a Beautiful Friendship

by Severina



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Community: tamingthemuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-17
Updated: 2013-05-17
Packaged: 2017-12-12 03:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/806852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The stress of life on the run and the worry about her lost friends were taking its toll on her body and her spirit.  She just wanted to stop.  Just for a moment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Could Be the Start of a Beautiful Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Post Season Two. Written for LJ's tamingthemuse community, for the prompt "drusy quartz" ("fine sugar-like crystals that form over a quartz when dissolved silica carried by ground water is deposited in the porous areas of the rocks.")
> 
> * * *

Andrea stood at the bank of the stream, brushed at the straggling curls that had escaped her ponytail. The part of the forest where they'd found themselves was so verdant, lush, seemingly untouched by civilization. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, despite all the travels she'd taken to exotic locales in her other life. The sunlight shimmered on the gently flowing water of the stream, sparkling on the rocks, chips of quartz and granite glinting in the light. Around her she heard only the rustle of small animals in the brush, the songs of the birds. 

For the first time since her mad dash from the farm, she felt her shoulders relax, the tension in the stiff line of her spine ease slowly away. She took a deep breath, but the only scents on the air were of leaves turning to mulch and the deep pungent smell of the earth. 

She smiled as she made her way back to the fire, dropped her bag at her feet and took a seat on the log Michonne had dragged up to the makeshift campsite. "On beautiful days like this, you can almost forget that the world's gone to hell," she said. Her gaze shifted to the two walkers chained to the tree on the opposite side of the clearing, straining against their bonds. "Or maybe not," she added wryly.

"You fill up the bottles?"

Andrea suppressed a sigh, held up the knapsack and shook it lightly. "I filled the bottles," she answered.

Michonne merely nodded, turned her attention back to the rabbit on the spit. 

Andrea sat back, turned her face up to the sun and tried to bite down on her frustration. She owed this woman her life, and she'd done her best to defer to Michonne's decisions since they'd hooked up. But the stress of life on the run and the worry about her lost friends were taking its toll on her body and her spirit. She just wanted to stop. Just for a moment. 

"Might be a nice place to stop for a while," she finally said into the silence. When Michonne lifted her eyes to regard her impassively, Andrea leaned forward. "Look, I know we have to put some distance between us and the herd. I get it. But we haven't stopped for more than a couple of hours to rest our eyes in _three days_. We need this."

"It's too dangerous," Michonne said shortly.

"More dangerous than carrying on while we're exhausted?" 

Michonne just rotated the rabbit in response, and Andrea pressed her lips together, felt the dull pulse of a headache beginning behind her eyes. She let her gaze drift past the clearing, tried to recapture the sense of peace she'd felt at the stream. She closed her eyes, tried to focus on the scent of the wildflowers growing on the verge. But now all she could smell was the dirt and blood smeared into her clothes, the putrid stench of decay.

She jerked when she heard Michonne rise, opened her eyes to see the rabbit propped cooling on the rocks and Michonne settling her katana on her back.

"Where are you going?"

"Said there's a stream. Gonna wash some of this grime off me," Michonne said. "Since we're gonna be stayin' a while."


End file.
